POLYGALA SENEGA' -RATTLE-SNAKE MILKWORT. 
Class XVII. DIADELPHIA.— Order III. OCTANDRIA. 
Natural Order, POLY GALACE^E. — THE MILKWORT TRIBE. 
Fig. («) represents the three smaller leaves of the calyx ; (6) the differents parts of the corolla, &c.; 
(c) the capsule and seeds ; ( d ) the root. 
The Polygala Senega is a hardy perennial, a native of North America, growing in most latitudes in the 
United States, on the sides of hills and in dry woods. It is abundant in Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee ; 
flowering from June to August. It was first cultivated in England by Philip Miller in 1759; but having 
little beauty to boast it is rarely met with in our gardens. There is a variety with whitish flowers in a dense 
spike or cluster, and another with rose-coloured flowers in a lax spike and narrower leaves. The rose- 
coloured variety, as it has been considered by Michaux and Pursh, is said to be a distinct species. Some 
varieties, which Professor Bigelow possesses from Carolina, have branching, pubescent stems, and very long 
loose spikes. Of this genus M. Decandolle enumerates above one hundred and sixty species, growing in 
every quarter of the globe; but one only, Polygala vulgaris, or common Milkwort, is British. 
The root of Polygala Senega is woody, branched, contorted, about half an inch in diameter, and covered 
with a thick dull yellowish or greyish bark; it sends up several annual stems, about a foot in height, erect, 
slender, round, simple, smooth, of a dull purple colour below, and greenish towards the top. The leaves 
are alternate, scattered, lanceolate, pointed, smooth, somewhat undulated, occasionally tinged with red, and 
nearly or quite sessile : towards the base they are smaller and nearly ovate. The flowers are in loose, 
terminal spikes, apparently papilionaceous, generally white, often tinged with purple, and sometimes pale 
yellow. The calyx, which in this genus is the most conspicuous part of the flower, consists of five leaflets ; 
the two largest of which are roundish- ovate, white, and slight veined. The corolla is small, closed, having 
two obtuse lateral segments, and a short crested extremity. The stamens are all united at the bottom, and 
attached to the corolla; with eight tubular anthers opening at the summit. The fruit is an obcordate, com- 
pressed, 2-celled, 2-valved capsule, containing two oblong-obovate, slightly hairy, curved, blackish seeds. 
The spike opens very gradually, so that the lower flowers are in fruit, while the upper ones are in blossom. 
The generic name is compounded of two Greek words, voXo?, much , and yaXa, milk, in allusion to its 
reputation of increasing the secretion of milk in those animals that partake of it. But at this time, the 
species which gave origin to the idea is not known. 
Qualities and Chemical Properties. — The root of the Polygala Senega has little or no smell; 
but to the taste it is bitter, pungent, subtle, and peculiar. After chewing, it leaves a sensation of acrimony 
in the mouth, and still more so in the fauces, if it have been swallowed. Both aqueous and spirituous 
menstrua extract its virtue; but the alcoholic most completely. The powder in substance is, however, more 
active than either the tincture or decoction. The bark of the root contains the most active principles of 
the plant: the ligneous portion being comparatively inert. Alcohol dissolves a substance apparently of the 
resinous kind, giving a precipitate when water is added. Iron produces little change in solution of this 
root, and gelatin occasions no alteration whatever. 
A peculiar vegetable principle has recently been discovered by Gehlen, in the root of the Polygala 
Senega, to which he has given the name of senegin. It is obtained by treating the alcoholic extract with 
water and ether; the latter abstracting a portion of resin, and the former dissolving a little mucilaginous 
and saccharine matter. It is a solid substance of a brown colour, and excites violent sneezing like tobacco. 
It has a disagreeable taste, is soluble in alcohol, but insoluble in water and ether. 
M. Reschier is also said to have isolated from six ounces of the root of Senega, a hundred grains of a 
peculiar alkaline principle, ( Polygaline’ which is united to an acid termed ‘ Polygalinique It is regarded 
as a substance sui generis , and as containing the active principle of the plant; but we know not whether it 
be identical with the senegin of Gehlen. 
Medical Properties. — This root is sudorific and expectorant in small doses, and emetic and ca- 
thartic in larger ones. More than ninety years have elapsed since Dr. Tennant, of America, invited the 
attention of physicians to this medicine as an antidote to the bite of the rattle-snake; and a reward was 
voted him by the legislature of Pennsylvania for the promulgation of this supposed property. It was from 
